Author: Chauntel Ensey

You know how Wednesdays are….you look forward to the weekend! This week has been a good knitting week. On Monday night I finished the body of my mom’s Bob sweater. So now I have one sleeve & about a third of a sleeve left to do. My guage isn’t exact so I am hoping that I have done the calculations exact for the sleeves. I am pretty sure I am right on. Let me just pat myself on the back.  This sweater was really fun to make, I found that knitting it in the round was really rather satisfying instead of finishing the back & then realizing your only half done. Of course short sleeves are a blessing because of how fast they go!!

I also finished 2 of my blanket squares. I did a simple leaf lace pattern with seed stitch as the border. I also did a cable pattern with garter stitch border. I will post pics of them. My digital camera is full from our trip & I can’t seem to get the pics downloaded. Inspiration**I will get it done now.

I am using 3  patterns from my Big Book of Knitting

I have to say that I am happy with this book, it is a good reference for altering patterns. I tend to do that, change the crew to a vneck or change the shape of the sleeves. Or just make up a sweater all together. Although I would really like the sweater book that Summers has. The name has totally escaped me & I thought I had it on my amazon wishlist but I am not seeing it anywhere.

I decided that Rogue is coming after the holidays. I would like to use my cascade 220 but I am not sure that it will get the guage. I have swatched it and it was right on in flat knitting. I just need to swatch it in the round to make sure it’s correct or if I need to use a different needle size in the round. I am hoping it just works.

So here is the list of christmas gifts left to make:

*Bob sweater- almost finished with first sleeve, only one more to make, then the sewing party.

*Dad gift- I am thinking that I will copy Suzanne and make him the irish hiking scarf 

*Finish the circus sweater for a neice- it just needs a hood.

*Finish another sweater for the other twin neice- it’s woolease striped heathered pinks knit in the round

*Felt a bag for my son’s teacher (multi colored stripes with black plastic handles) & my daughter’s teacher (solid brown messenger bag)

*Finish the absolutely fabulous throw for my parents (even though my mom stated that she was tired of knit & crocheted blankets, she will eat her words!!)

Um…. I would like to make my hubby a sweater also but unfortunately he is on the backburner for the time being. Of course I will feel bad for not makind the kids something for Christmas but maybe some socks can fly off my needles. Whew!! Who knows if I can actually get it all done. Not if I am screwing around out here!! The pics are next, then off to knitting!

Well, home at last!!

After a snow delay in Idaho Falls, Idaho last night we got home later than expected. But all is well! We even managed to get all of our bags as well! I do have to say that a turboprop plane in snow storms can be a little scary….not normally frightened by flying but well this time I had all my genetic productions on the plane with me. They just thought the bumpy, loud ride was fun……riiiiiight……

On the knitting front I finished a pair of socks for son Trevor out of some chunky patons I had with me. Just a simple 2×2 pattern. I finished 1 1/2 socks for Sadie out of some really cute purple sock yarn, I think it was kry 4-ply. I did a 5×1 rib & then single crocheted around the top.

So after being at my parents & sister’s house I decided that I will get my act together & finish the sweater & blanket for my mom. I was thinking of a sweater for my dad, or maybe some thrummed mittens. Let me tell you, it is frickin’ freezing in Idaho!! Being the SoCal girl that I am I forgot what a high of 26degrees can be like!

I am so happy that I have the parents that I have. I am so blessed that I can be their daughter & friend. And of course they are blessed to have me! (that is a little of my dad coming out in me, he rubs off way more than is healthy;o))  And my sister & her kids….they are just the loves of my life!! I hate it that until 2 years ago we all lived within an hour of eachother in Cali but now it’s a 2 day drive or a $2k trip on a scary ass plane. But I am happy that I did get the time with them that I did.

Stacy, my sister, hostessed us for Thanksgiving. Their were 24 of us total for dinner. A family & a couple friends came along with just the Sedgwicks (I am a maiden Sedgwick). So damn fun!

It snowed the first morning we were there, that made George’s trip! But then it melted & rained on Thursday so he was kinda bummed. Of course as we needed to fly out there was a big storm & delayed. Couldn’t play in it, just had to be mad at it.

Okay it’s 5 hours later & the front of moms sweater is done. I just have the shaping on the back of the sweater & one sleeve to do. It is in the round raglan short sleeves. I am excited to be done with it in the next couple of days! I just cross my fingers that it will fit. That is what ribbing & nice stretchy yarn is for

I totally have failed at posting pics of completed items. I do have a few though! I got all excited about how much I had accomplished in the last week & started a pair of socks for my husband out of phentex chunky rag wool, tan & white. They are 2×2 rib done on size 9’s. So freakin’ fast! In about an hour & a half last night I had all of the leg/ankle & heel plus 2 inches of the foot done. I love thick yarn!

I have decided to make my Sadie Jane some socks. For some reason she thinks she needs some. So I am thinking I can do those on the trip, smaller than a homespun shawl, that is for damn sure!

Okay so it is now Saturday afternoon & I have finished my love’s socks. They went so fast that I thought I would make me mum & pop some for a Thanksgiving gift. And if I can squeeze Sadie’s in in between then I will. I forgot I had some Patons shetland chunky yarn in really fun veriagated jewel tones.  So there you have it! Tada!! I will make sure to post pictures before I leave on Tuesday of all the completed gifts & projects. Whoopee!!!

I finished the navy blue felted bag for my niece!! Now I just have to add the handles and the snap close, then I will post pictures. I hope that my nieces don’t know about this site….that would be bad! I will have to ask my sister.

Today was an errand day so not much knitting done. I did start a scarf for my brother in law last night, 2×2 rib, 20 sts across on size 11 needles using phentex chunky ragg yarn from Smileys yarns. I am going to make a scarf for my dad also, the hats for both of them matching are already done.

Hope fully I will be able to make it to meetup tonight. I can’t go to our regular group on Thursday or next Monday. We fly out Tuesday morning & I know that I will be totally busy come Monday. Seriously scrambling!

I also am swatching my cascade 220 for the hourglass sweater. Hopefully it will work!!

 

Coming soon for the Mother in law….homespun crocheted fan shawl. I have 8 skeins of homespun in a deep red color so I think if I use them all I will have a nice LARGE shawl for her to wear in her bed. Li’l bit of background; she has had diabetes for over 30 years, never dealt with it until she went blind 10 years ago. In the last year she has had a kidney transplant, major open heart surgery, an artificial heart valve installed, a pacemaker put in then promptly removed 5 weeks later after an insane infection (she was the only person in the state of CA to have the infection at that time), been to & from UCLA to Santa Barbara 3 times, um….what else….oh! She may or may not have had multiple strokes in the meantime. So now she is in a convalescent hospital trying to recover to get home to Solvang but things aren’t going as quickly as she would like. So while she is in bed I thought it would be nice for her to have some thing cuddly to snuggle with. And what better than a homespun shawl??? My plans are to start it & take it on the plane to Idaho, work on it & finish it on the trip. Not that I would be the least bit surprised if I didn’t get one iota done on it.

Okay enough of that talk. I think I will go get ready for knitting tonight. I have to decide what project to take & it’s not too tough of a choice. The bag, since I can knit & talk in the round no problem!

 

I did finish a few things this weekend! Woohoo! I completed the drop stitch scarf after ripping it out twice to change needle size & stitch number. SO I ended up casting on 60 on #10 circ’s & using 436 yards of pot surprise. Finished length before I dropped every other stitch was about 34″. Now it is 6.5 feet long, unstretched. Who knows how long once it is stretched out. I did find that I can actually use one end as a hat & then wrap the rest as a scarf. That will be really handy in Idaho next week.

I am 2/3 of the way done with the last of my niece’s bags. I did put the handles on my sisters bag also. I will post pics of all of these wonderful items later in the day, or tomorrow. Let’s be honest I am not feeling too motivated right now. I need to work on the ab fab throw but it’s not gonna happen today I don’t think. Depends on how tired I am after knitting group tonight. I will be going, unless something unfortunate doesn’t permit me. But as of now I think I am good to go.

Oh I blocked the polka dot pot surprise scarf also. Love it, I will be wearing it this evening! I was hoping I would have enough yarn left to make a couple cute pompoms for the corners but alas I do not. Oh well, it’s good plain. I am not a big fan of knitting scarves but I am pleased with these 2.

So there you have it. I really want to finish that bag today & get it felted, then put the handles on.

Oh & Summers came over with goody books this morning. She received her SnB Nation from Amazon. Mine & Tracy’s will be here on Thursday. And she purchased . We have gone in together on 2 books, this being one of them. So it’s nice to share, co-op-er-a-tion people! Reminds me of sesame street! Happy times! There are so many projects that I want to do now! But I can’t yet. I must finish all Christmas cheer first. Then on to the really fun stuff! For now I am off to work on another bag!

 

I posted a new photo to WorksinProgress.